Superintendent John Whitehall
John Whitehall was a fraud investigator for Scotland Yard. He had been kidnapped and deposited on the Granite Island by The Dropper. At that time, he held the rank of Superintendent. The Granite Island When Dick Tracy was also abducted and left for dead on the desolate island, Whitehall observed the man for some time before allowing himself to be discovered. Whitehall wanted to assess Tracy's strength and resourcefulness. When the men finally met, Whitehall revealed that he had been abducted on March 28th of that year, which meant he had been there for several months. Whitehall shared some of his dried goat meat with Tracy from his carefully rationed supply. The two men pooled their resources and did their best to survive. Using Miss Egghead's gun, Tracy was able to shoot another goat, providing them with more meat. Tracy got intermittent reception on his 2-Way Wrist Radio, and was able to make brief contact with the young ham radio enthusiast Bob. However, the radio was crushed by a falling boulder shortly thereafter. Rescue Whitehall and Tracy took shelter during the severe storm that affected the area. It was during this time that the nose cone from an experimental Army rocket landed on the island. Tracy knew that this meant the army would be coming to collect it, and the two men were soon resuced. With both of their home offices contacted, Tracy and Whitehall regained their strength on board a Navy crash boat, enjoying bread and beef. They were taken to Cuba for a checkup where they were met by Sam Catchem. Upon leaving the hospital, they got the report about Dropper's overturned airplane, and they went to investigate in a rowboat. When they arrived, Chicory shot at them and the gun flash set off the fuel fumes that had leaked into the fuselage. The airplane exploded, killing the criminals inside. The adventure ended, Whitehall returned to England, inviting Tracy to come and visit him sometime. Further Adventures In 2002, Whitehall (now identified as a Scotland Yard Chief Inspector, see "Notes" below) asked for Tracy's aid when Stonehenge was found to have been stolen and replaced with a plastic replica. The landmark was later recovered. Notes *During Whitehall's appearance in 2002, he is referred to as a Chief Inspector. In the British police ranking system, a Superintendent is one grade higher than a Chief Inspector. Therefore, Whitehall must have been demoted, or the creative team made an error based on a misunderstanding or lack of knowledge of the rank structure of the British Police Service. *Stonehenge is under the jurisdiction of the Wiltshire Police, not the London Metropolitan Police, which calls into question the nature of Whitehall's involvement in the 2002 investigation (See above). *In the prose short story "Murder is My Hobby" by Sgt. Jim Doherty (which was available to read on the PLAINCLOTHES website), Whitehall provided some aid to Dick Tracy via telephone. In the story (whose place in the overall Dick Tracy timeline was left deliberately ambiguous), Whitehall was identified as an Assistant Commissioner and commander of Scotland Yard's Specialist Crime Directorate. This put him in charge of all murder investigations being conducted by the London Metropolitan Police (among other things). The story has not been officially established as canon by the current creative team. Category:Police Officers